


From across the ocean

by hotcocoa



Series: Bokuroo Week 2016 [4]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: BoKuroo Week 2016, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-04-04
Packaged: 2018-05-31 05:49:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6458407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotcocoa/pseuds/hotcocoa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Day 4: aged up (or down) AU</p>
<p>When they had been accepted to the same college, Bokuto had been elated. They were going to college together, they would be inseparable, right? Well, he hadn’t exactly been wrong, but four years ago college had felt like it would last forever. It had never crossed his mind to think of what would come after.</p>
            </blockquote>





	From across the ocean

When they had been accepted to the same college, Bokuto had been elated. They were going to college together, they would be inseparable, right? Well, he hadn’t exactly been wrong, but four years ago college had felt like it would last forever. It had never crossed his mind to think of what would come _after_.

He kind of wished he had. At least he might have been prepared.

The news came like a punch to the gut. “I’ve been offered a research position in a really great lab,” Kuroo said.

“That’s awesome!” Bokuto exclaimed, turning around to congratulate his boyfriend, but stopped short when he saw Kuroo looking down at his feet. “What? What’s wrong? Is it in Hokkaido or something?”

Kuroo’s eyes flicked up guiltily before returning to the floor. “It’s…in California.”

Bokuto felt like the world had stopped. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

They stood like that for a minute, Bokuto staring at Kuroo and Kuroo staring at the floor. Finally, Bokuto let his face break out into a grin and slapped Kuroo on the shoulder. “Well, come on, this is great news! We should be celebrating!”

Kuroo looked up, searching Bokuto’s face for any sign of insincerity. There was none there, of course, but Bokuto’s honest enthusiasm couldn’t mask his heartbreak, either. Kuroo swiftly gathered him up into a tight hug. “I’m sorry, Kou. I know how hard this is going to be for you…”

“Oh, you know me,” Bokuto said with a weak laugh. “As long as I’m playing volleyball I’ll be fine…although…you won’t be able…to see any of my games…” He was never any good at hiding it when he was getting choked up (although he suspected that Kuroo would always know anyway). Kuroo’s arms tightened around him.

“Sure I will,” he said, his cheerfulness just a little too forced. “You’ll be playing for the national team, it’ll be easy to watch your games online.”

Bokuto didn’t say anything. Sure, Kuroo could watch his games on some tiny screen from an ocean away, but he wouldn’t get to hear him cheering from the stands. He wouldn’t get to run up to him and hug him after a win, Kuroo joking about how gross and sweaty he was, or shuffle up to him dejectedly after a loss and receive a cuff on the head and a recap of how great he played during the match. He wouldn’t be able to go home with him and spend the night in his arms, wake up and eat breakfast with him the next morning…

“It’ll be okay, Kou,” Kuroo said softly. “The position is only for a year, and it’ll really help me to get a position wherever I want in Japan when I’m done.”

“I like the sound of that,” Bokuto mumbled into Kuroo’s sweatshirt. “Get a job in Tokyo, okay? Right next to the gym.”

Kuroo laughed, stroking Bokuto’s hair. “I’ll do my best,” he promised.

* * * * *

Graduation came way too quickly. It seemed as if they went directly from receiving their diplomas to standing at the airport gate, and all the stolen kisses and sleepless nights in between were just a dream…

“…and I’ll be in charge of my own project and working directly with—” Kuroo stopped when he saw that Bokuto wasn’t listening and bumped him with his hip. “I know you don’t really care about biology, but am I that boring?” he teased.

Bokuto jumped guiltily. “No, no!” he said, waving his hands as if waving away the accusation. “I really love hearing about your stuff, Tetsu! I was just…” He trailed off, looking down at his shoes.

Kuroo punched him in the shoulder. “Just thinking about how awesome it’ll be to see me again in a year?” Bokuto looked up at him miserably. “Aw, come on, it’ll go by before you know it. You’ll be so busy playing volleyball—for _the national team_ —that you won’t even notice I’m gone.”

“Yeah, right.” The end of Bokuto’s denial was cut off by a loud announcement.

“ _Flight 452 to Los Angeles now boarding_.”

Kuroo didn’t give Bokuto time to react, pulling him into a long kiss before letting him go and pressing something into his hand. “I’ll be back before you know it,” he whispered.

Bokuto watched Kuroo walk away until he disappeared, then blinked and opened his hand. Sitting in his palm was a necklace whose pendant was half a volleyball with one word on it, _BROS_. There was a small note attached that read simply: _I have the BEST._

Bokuto burst out into laughter, wiping the tears off his face as he put the necklace on. Kuroo always knew how to make things okay. Bokuto left the airport with a smile.

And at first, it was easy. Bokuto was busy with training, as always, and whenever he talked to Kuroo, he was so excited about his new job and Bokuto was so happy for him. They talked often enough that Bokuto could almost forget that he wasn’t seeing him every day.

The first time was after his debut on the national team.

“Kuroo, did you see that?!” he exclaimed at the same time Kuroo yelled “BRO, THAT WAS AWESOME!” when he answered the Skype call.

“That last spike—”

“I just shut them down—!”

“And your _aim_ , dude—”

“I know!!”

They talked animatedly about the game for a good hour until Kuroo’s fatigue became painfully obvious.

“Bro, what time is it there?”

“Uh.” Kuroo glanced at the time. “6 AM.”

“Shit dude, and you’ve been up since when?”

Kuroo shrugged. “It’s not a big deal, I need to start getting ready soon anyway.”

“Tetsurou…” All of a sudden, Bokuto felt his eyes water up. He felt guilty that his boyfriend had gotten so little sleep on his account, but most of all—“I miss you.”

Kuroo leaned in closer to the camera. “I miss you too, Kou,” he said softly. “But it’ll be—”

“I just,” Bokuto interrupted him with a sniffle, “I used to see you every day, and now, you can’t even see my games properly, and you have to lose sleep to watch them on a screen, from an ocean away—”

“Hey.” Kuroo cut him off with a crooked smile. “Since when does an ocean have anything on the depth of my love for you?”

Bokuto couldn’t help it. He laughed through his tears. “You’re such a nerd!” he exclaimed.

“Hey!” Kuroo pouted, placing a hand on his chest. “That was a heartfelt sentiment right there! You’re breaking my heart!”

“Go get ready for work, you dork,” Bokuto said, still chuckling.

Kuroo leaned his head on his hand. “Hey,” he said, “you’re dating this dork, so who’s the real loser here, hm?”

“I just won a match as a wing spiker on Japan’s national team, so it can’t be me,” Bokuto joked.

“Well, and I’m dating you, so it can’t be me either,” Kuroo said. Bokuto nodded solemnly in agreement and Kuroo grinned. “I guess we’ll just have to call it a tie.”

* * * * *

A few months later, Bokuto received a call just after dinner.

“Tetsu?”

“Koutarou.” Kuroo’s voice was slightly slurred. “I was thinking about you.”

“Are you drunk?” Bokuto asked skeptically, but he was interrupted by voices in the background.

“Is that the star of Japan’s national volleyball team?!”

“The ace with impeccable aim and unparalleled power! I’m swooning!”

“Shut up, guys!” Kuroo yelled in English before going back to speaking in Japanese. “I’m sorry, Kou, they just—”

There was a small scuffle and someone else’s voice came clearly through the phone, also speaking English. “Did you know that he has a jersey with a number 4 and ‘Bokuto’ written on the back? He wears it at least once a—”

There was another scuffle, louder and longer this time, before Kuroo apparently wrestled his phone back from one of his friends. “Hey,” he said, clearly trying to sound smooth.

“Why do you have my jersey?” Bokuto asked incredulously.

“Because you’re so cool!” Kuroo said. “You’re so cool and hot—haha, those are opposites—and you’re _my_ boyfriend—” Someone wolf-whistled in the background “—and see, all these losers are jealous,” he concluded, saying the last part more loudly than was necessary.

Bokuto shook his head disbelievingly. “I love you, Tetsurou,” he said. “Just take care of yourself, okay?”

“I love you too, Kou.”

* * * * *

Their anniversary was especially hard. Kuroo was presenting at a conference and wasn’t even free to talk until the next day.

Bokuto didn’t tell him that he’d spent the entire day at home and cried himself to sleep.

* * * * *

But as the end of Kuroo’s tenure approached, Bokuto became more and more animated in their conversations (which Kuroo wouldn’t have thought possible if he didn’t know him better). He could swear he was even performing better during practice, which in turn just contributed to his general enthusiasm so that by the time he found himself waiting at the airport, he was literally bouncing up and down.

When people starting filtering off of the plane, Bokuto could hardly contain himself, stretching his neck and looking around as if elongating it would make Kuroo appear faster.

And when he did, it was almost as if the last year disappeared altogether.

Bokuto bounded forward and crushed Kuroo in his arms before Kuroo had even seen him. Both of them started laughing as Bokuto threw Kuroo off balance, and Kuroo quickly gave up on trying to hold onto his baggage, instead dropping it in favor of throwing his arms around Bokuto’s neck and kissing him deeply. When he pulled back, he only went far enough to lean his forehead against Bokuto’s. “I missed you.”

Bokuto’s grin widened so much that his face ached. “I missed you too.”


End file.
